EFTM and Cadel Evans go for a Spin

EFTM had the chance to catch up with Cadel Evans, Australia’s own Tour de France winner to talk all things fitness, health and an upcoming event that YOU can participate in.

Cadel Evans who has retired from professional cycling is far from retired. While in Milan, EFTM were fortunate enough to spend some time on the phone with him and talk about anything and everything.

What is Cadel up to these days?

Currently in Milan he was following the Giro de Italia, on June 25 he will be leading the worlds largest spin class held in Sydney in partnership with Medibank. He certainly hasn’t gotten off the bike!

How can we prepare for the Cadel Evans Spin Class?

“Practice makes perfect!”. Get on the bike in the gym and start using it, the more you work yourself the better you’ll be prepared for when Cadel runs the class in June.

How did Cadel prep for the big races?

Prep for the competitions are nothing like a spin class however using “rollers” aka spin bikes was a primary task for training. While training outside is great, weather sometimes forces you inside onto the spin bikes. With that said, training for the Tour de France requires 10-15 years of training. It took Cadel 20 years of training and competing to get his first win!

What fitness tech does Cadel use?

Training for professional cycling requires professional gear. Cadel would use a Power Meter for a real time reading of power being put into the pedals. Data collected here is monitored by his personal trainer and records every second in accordance with heart-rate and cadence.

Nowadays though Cadel uses a Garmin band, doesn’t use Strava (popular cycling app) but likes his Garmin mainly to keep track of his activity and “how much I am NOT doing”. He prefers this over the Apple Watch because he mainly seeks activity data.

“Don’t spend too much time with the technology that it takes away from the training”

Cadel talks nutrition

During competitive days it was all about eating lean and eating often. Nowadays the focus on nutrition is different because he doesn’t train as much as he used to, this means being even more careful of what he eats since he doesn’t burn as many calories as before. Living in Milan he is living a Mediterranean diet and eating fresh produce, low preparation and full of nutrients.

How can Cadel focus in large competitions?

A huge amount of discipline. Mental fatigue in large competitions, sometimes 3 weeks, is more of an issue than physical fatigue. It takes a long time to train the mind, it is something you learn. Recovery, mentally is also important. Cadel recovers with a good book, non-fiction, reading about something nothing like he is involved in generally in his hotel.

The full interview can be heard here:

“Do a good thing for yourself” and join the spin class on June 25th as Medibank aims to break the world record for the largest spin class ever. It will be lead by Cadel Evans via video link from Italy. Details are below.

Medibank World Record Attempt

Time: Registration from 7am – 7.30am, event runs from 8am – 8.50am. N.B. Please arrive before 7.30am to register and secure your place

Date: Thursday 25 June 2015

Address: Overseas Passenger Terminal, Circular Quay W, The Rocks, Sydney NSW 2000

Website: medibank.com.au/spin-record